Two twisting tornados simultaneously 'raked' through Ontario and Michigan

It has been confirmed that two fast-moving tornados touched down in both the US and Canada at the same time.

David Sills, the Executive Director of the Northern Tornado Project, reported that the twisting tornados "raked" through both southwestern Ontario and Michigan, clearing houses in their path.

The tornados hit simultaneously at 10:30 pm on Thursday 24 August, said David Sills.

But residents of the regions were only sent a tornado weather warning from Windsor Alerts via mobile phone and email at 10:39 p.m.

David Sills spoke of the short weather warning with: "There were no pictures of the tornadoes. It wasn't until we started putting together all of the different tornado reports that we could see that they were in narrow lines coming down from the north-northwest and aligned with rotation on radar."

It was reported that one of the tornados, which was around 700 metres wide and is classified as an EF1 on a scale that runs from EF0 to EF5, left a 14-kilometre path that ran along the Lakeshore and Tecumseh area.

The wind speed of the tornado was estimated to have hit around 150km per hour.

The first tornado travelled from Riverside Drive through St. Clair Beach and Elmstead, until it eventually ended up in Pleasant Park across Highway 401.

Barbara Saxon, who lives in the path of the tornado that "raked" through Tecumseh said that she was in bed when she heard a distant "rumbling".

Barbara Saxon explained that as the tornado approached, "[it] sounded like a train literally going over the house".

Further adding that Barbara Saxon "shook the house. It was insane".

Jim Cecile, who also lives in the path of the first tornado told reporters that his home had its entire roof lifted about an inch after he heard a bang that he initially thought was a thunderstorm.

Surprisingly Jim Cecile slept through the windstorm, only realising the damage the tornado had caused when he woke the next morning.

"We called the insurance .... and [it was] inspected this morning and said yes it was lifted about an inch: rafters, sheeting, shingles, the whole bit," Jim Cecile said.

Relieved, Jim Cecile concluded: "But it settled down, nothing is broken, we're safe. So life is good."

The second tornado was almost slightly smaller, at around 470 metres wide. The second tornado touched down in Windsor and ran for around 11.6 kilometres. This time, the tornado left a trail that was narrower than the Tecumseh-Lakeshore one that had hit earlier.

David Sills noted that the second tornado that hit was "narrower but shorter... a bit less intense".

The Windsor tornado was rated an EF0, with a maximum speed measured at around 125km per hour.

Speaking of the intense speed, David Sills explained: "The fact that they were moving so fast, it makes it so that they can travel farther, faster, and the width on (the Tecumseh-Lakeshore tornado) was about 700 metres across, so ... lucky this wasn't worse."

The tornados destroyed barns and houses, while they ripped through roofs and uprooted trees.

At the same time, in Michigan, two EF2 tornados were tracked that ended near the Detroit River.

Unlike the tornadoes that were ripping through rural areas of Canada, David Sills revealed that the Michigan tornados of many civilians.

Executive Director of the Northern Tornado Project said: "They went right through residential neighbourhoods so people were in danger. If anybody had been out walking around at that time and not taking cover there would have been debris in the air and certainly injuries were possible."

Helpline services said that around 20,000 customers were affected by the windstorm, with almost 300 repairs being required by residents in the Michigan region.

The Michigan tornados caused a power outage across the area, but most of the electricity was restored by Friday morning.

According to sources at the scene, all the large outages were cleared by experts on Saturday evening.

There have been no reports of any casualties in Michigan or Ontario.